Mars rover

Patrick T. Fallon / Los Angeles Times

Ken Edgett talks about a photo taken with the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on the surface of Mars during a news conference for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge on Tuesday. The Curiosity robot is equipped with a nuclear-powered lab capable of vaporizing rocks and ingesting soil, measuring habitability, and potentially paving the way for human exploration.

Ken Edgett talks about a photo taken with the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on the surface of Mars during a news conference for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge on Tuesday. The Curiosity robot is equipped with a nuclear-powered lab capable of vaporizing rocks and ingesting soil, measuring habitability, and potentially paving the way for human exploration. (Patrick T. Fallon / Los Angeles Times)

Ken Edgett talks about a photo taken with the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on the surface of Mars during a news conference for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge on Tuesday. The Curiosity robot is equipped with a nuclear-powered lab capable of vaporizing rocks and ingesting soil, measuring habitability, and potentially paving the way for human exploration.